Climate change: A crisis for humanity, but not a big deal in the Pa. governor’s race

As the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania, Marie Cusick covers energy and environmental issues for public radio stations statewide. She’s also part of NPR’s energy and environment team, which coordinates coverage between the network and select member station reporters around the country. Her work frequently airs on NPR shows including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Since 2012, Marie has closely followed the political, social, environmental, and economic effects of Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom. Her work has been recognized at the regional and national levels– honors include a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Previously, Marie was a multimedia reporter for WMHT in Albany, New York and covered technology for the station’s statewide public affairs TV show, New York NOW. In 2018, she became StateImpact’s first FAA-licensed drone pilot.

The scientists wrote the report expressly for policymakers. They’re urging governments to try to keep the warming below 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That’s half a degree less than the goal set by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. They conceded that there is “no documented historic precedent” for such a rapid transformation of the global economy.

But a sense of urgency on climate change doesn’t show up in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race. Incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf and Republican challenger Scott Wagner acknowledge climate change is happening, but neither had made addressing it a top priority.

“I haven’t been to science class in a long time,” he said. “But you know, the earth moves closer to the sun every year.”

He stepped in it again over the summer, when a young woman at a campaign event asked him about climate change. He called her “young and naïve”— and was criticized for being both sexist and dismissive of an important issue. The Wolf campaign immediately jumped on the gaffe, handing out bumper stickers that read: “Young and Naïve Voter.” Wagner walked back those comments in August, when he acknowledged climate change exists, but said he couldn’t do much about it.

“If anybody thinks that as governor, I can go into the governor’s office and flip a switch and that I can change all this—I can’t.”

Although Wolf’s campaign has seized on Wagner’s climate comments, the governor has not taken a prominent role in addressing the issue.

The existing law, known as the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, requires utilities to buy 8 percent of their power from so-called Tier 1 clean sources, such as wind and solar, by 2021. The law was considered cutting-edge when it passed in 2004, but since then many other states have set far more aggressive targets.

A fossil fuel state

Historically, Pennsylvania is a fossil fuel state, says Joe Minott, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, but given the stark warnings from climate scientists, he says the state should be doing more.

“We need to start taking this seriously,” Minott said. “It needs to be taken seriously in every decision that we — as Pennsylvanians and as Americans –make. It can’t be relegated to, ‘We’re going to tinker with this and we’re going to tinker with that.’”

Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale boom has helped reduce carbon emissions, says Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. He takes Wolf at his word that he wants to support and grow the gas industry.

“We differ, based on his calls for an additional [severance] tax on the industry,” Barr said. “Wagner as governor — I think you’d see him addressing the regulatory hurdles and [drilling] permitting delays we see. Wagner has stated he wants to dismantle some of the current environmental requirements we have. I think he would attempt to do it.”

“The future is going to be solar, wind, sustainable and renewable energy sources,” he said. “So here in Pennsylvania, one of the things I’m trying to promote is things like the cracker plant.”

The cracker plant will take Marcellus shale products and turn them into ethylene, a building-block for the plastics industry. When it comes online, it will be among the largest air pollution sources in the state.

Wolf also has not followed through on a campaign pledge to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The market-based system is a collaboration among northeastern states to limit emissions.